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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22483252">Die Schatten werden länger</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolitaryViolence/pseuds/SolitaryViolence'>SolitaryViolence</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Wenn du mich brauchst, komm ich zu dir [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elisabeth - Levay/Kunze</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Sex, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Songfic, please forgive the overused title, yes I know that the dialogue isn't entirely period accurate but I do try</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:35:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>766</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22483252</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolitaryViolence/pseuds/SolitaryViolence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At five to twelve, the twenty-year-old Crown Prince receives a most unexpected visit.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rudolf von Österreich-Ungarn | Rudolf Crown Prince of Austria/Der Tod | Death (Elisabeth)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Wenn du mich brauchst, komm ich zu dir [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Die Schatten werden länger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For a number of years, his friend leaves him be. But, one night, when he's twenty, he lies alone.</p>
<p>Alone, buried in heavy quilts, with his servants spurned. Alone, drowning in tears, having no one to turn to; the illustrious Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary must not show such weakness, for it would cause a scandal - he would be deemed unfit to rule. Alone, with an ache in his chest, an ache he finds strange solace in.</p>
<p>At his most despondent, he fantasises. He fantasises about daggers, about how good a cool blade would feel against his pallid skin; it could so easily penetrate through his flesh and beget some semblance of relief. He fantasises about crimson trickling down his limbs and staining his bedsheets. He fantasises about the irreversible damage he can bring forth. He fantasises about depriving himself of this miserable life.</p>
<p>An unexpected chill fills the room. Despite being wrapped in soft, luxurious layers of the finest silk and velvet, he shudders. Suddenly, he senses an unsolicited presence beside him.</p>
<p>He freezes like a deer in the headlights as something brushes against his waist.</p>
<p><i>Oh, dear Lord</i>, he thinks, <i>I’m hallucinating</i>!</p>
<p>“My little prince…” a voice, sonorous and symphonic, purrs directly into his ear, “how you’ve grown.”</p>
<p>He blinks, draws in a breath, then lets his gaze wander downward. A leather-clad hand is, indeed, caressing his waist.</p>
<p><i>Oh, dear Lord</i>, he thinks, <i>I’m not hallucinating</i>!</p>
<p>“I rather think it is time we conversed. Shall we break our long silence?”<br/>
“...Who are you?” his voice comes out tremulous, in part due to fear, in part due to his weeping - which has inexplicably ceased.<br/>
“Oh, come, my little prince. You know me.”<br/>
“...I know you?”<br/>
“Yes,” the stranger growls, making Rudolf shiver, “you know me.”<br/>
“I demand to know who you are!” The prince’s attempt at sounding minacious fails miserably.<br/>
“Oh, dear. Has my prince forgotten me?” the stranger replies with a hint of condescension.<br/>
“Forgotten...you?”<br/>
“Don’t you remember the promise I made to you when you were a child? I told you I would always be near.”</p>
<p>Rudolf gasps. Could it be?!</p>
<p>Swiftly, he turns onto his other side, coming face to face with the erstwhile stranger. Strangely coiffed blond locks bordering sharp, imposing facial features, icy blue eyes seeming so cruel yet so inviting, and those peculiar sables…</p>
<p>There's no mistaking it. This is him, here again, after all these years!</p>
<p>“Oh...I have not forgotten you, my friend. You, who came to me all those years ago…”</p>
<p>His old friend smirks, silent, imbibing.</p>
<p>“I have called for you ever since, in moments of hysteria…and, at long last, you have heard my cries.”<br/>
“I came because you <i>need</i> me.”</p>
<p>His friend’s hand wanders, then comes to rest on Rudolf’s hip. He welcomes the touch.</p>
<p>“The shadows are growing longer, my friend. And yet, everyone remains blind, ignorant to my suffering.”<br/>
“Oh, my prince, so young you are still, yet so tortured. So long have I heard you calling for me desperately, longing for me to take you...”</p>
<p>He finally realises.</p>
<p>“Are you...Death?”</p>
<p>His friend smirks once more, in silent confirmation. Rudolf gulps.</p>
<p>“Will you take me?”<br/>
“It is not yet your time, my little prince.”<br/>
“Please?”<br/>
“You want me to take you?”<br/>
“This world is falling apart in front of my very eyes, and I can only sit and watch. Whilst my father rules, my hands are bound.”<br/>
“<i>Hush</i>, my prince.”</p>
<p>Death purrs again. Rudolf’s breath hitches.</p>
<p>“Oh…” Death coos, “I see.”<br/>
“See what?” Rudolf all but whimpers.<br/>
“Fancy you a distraction, my little one?”<br/>
“A...distraction, you say?” He does not object to the nickname.<br/>
“I can help you forget. If you permit me to do so, of course.”<br/>
“Forget what?”<br/>
“Why, all that plagues your mind.” He smirks again.<br/>
“You can do that?” Rudolf sounds desperate and hopeful.<br/>
“Naturally, my prince.”<br/>
“Oh, please!”</p>
<p>A half-stifled snicker escapes Death’s lips. Rudolf scowls.</p>
<p>“How submissive you are, for a future kaiser…”<br/>
“Sub-submissive!?”</p>
<p>Rudolf questions, raising his voice in disbelief, even as he's pushed onto his back and straddled by his enigmatic companion. As his friend smiles at him from above, Rudolf gasps, finally fathoming the words spoken. He is offering up <i>that</i> kind of distraction. As if he's able to read Rudolf’s thoughts, Death wipes the smile off of his face, then speaks up.</p>
<p>“Do you object?”</p>
<p>The prince weighs his options for a short moment, then decides.</p>
<p>“...No.”</p>
<p>Smirking once more, Death undoes Rudolf’s shirt buttons.</p>
<p><i>Oh</i>, he muses to himself, <i>one day, dear prince, you will truly be mine</i>.</p>
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